Stealth, intrigue, and pure murderous fun is the best way to describe this game. Murderous Pursuits is a fantastic multiplayer game that lit up the floor at PAX. Imagine if Clue met Titantic and brought in some heavy assassination, that is the fun you’ll have in this online story.
Murderous Pursuits takes place in the 1890s on a huge floating aristocratic cruise ship. You may not be sinking to an iceberg, but you are sinking your opponents in this one. The best feature is that there is a solo mode as well. So you can play the game on your own to get some practice. Once you feel ready you can join games with up to eight players. The ship has a bunch of locations to hide, plan, and attack your foes.
The game has a group of killers you can choose from. We liked Dodger. But, that is not all. Stealth and camouflage are super important and not revealing yourself to the opponents are one of the important aspects of the story. Make sure you pick your skins wisely to blend in. You actually score higher with Mr X if you keep quiet and wait patiently without exposing your true intentions. The better you plan the more you’ll get when you down another opponent.
The fun part of any stealth game is patience. Rushing in and trying to get everyone does not work. Murderous Pursuits does a fantastic job of building up the environment around the gameplay. They create the cruise ship so well with all kinds of ways to blend in. If you can look like a regular passenger you are doing a great job. As you move about the ship you will uncover weapons.
You are assigned a quarry when you enter the game, but also other hunters can be looking for you. There are trackers in the game for each. Everything remains subtle though. To stop your own hunters, you can surprise them or confront them. That will take you off their list.
You also have some skills to master. Before each match, you must decide which skills you want to use. The Counter skill can stop an attack. The Disguise skill changes your appearance and removes any exposure on you if found. Opposite of Disguise is Reveal which will show who is around. You can also get a Flash skill to stun and blind people in the area. The last and most fun is Humiliate which, well, speaks for itself.
The UI is fairly easy to get used to. The maps take you around the ship and make exploring a solid part of the game. Finding some high points on the map to find weapons. If there was any area that was lacking it is the need for more characters and variety. The game does have a lot of options but adding in more NPCs to the ship and ways to blend in would benefit players. It could also benefit from more dialogue on the ship.
Overall Murderous Pursuits is a fantastic stealth game for fans of the genre. The multiplayer aspects make it awesome to slowly hunt and chase down other players in secret. We had a great time playing and watching the game at PAX. It is definitely a fun one to take home and play quietly with a cup of tea. Just be ready to shiv folks as you explore.
